According to online reports, Kevin Walsh, who is considered a potential candidate for Fed chairman next year, said that the Fed's concern that "tariff increases may hinder inflation control" is self-defeating. "When the Fed asserts that inflation will be affected by external changes in price levels, they are somehow admitting something that is detrimental to their own interests," Walsh said. They are admitting that their credibility has been damaged." Walsh also pointed out that the Federal Reserve's large and often expanding balance sheet may conflict with the main policy lever used to set short-term borrowing rates, but "if the printing press can quiet down, we can reduce policy rates."